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“You didn’t answer. I thought . . .” Her eyes narrow as a sprite flits over carrying a basket of bread. “Doesn’t matter. I guess you’re fine.”
The bitterness in her voice surprises me, and I add her lost youth to the long list of reasons to despise the Fae. “What do you think? About the academy?”
She frowns. “I hate it. The tulips, the chirping birds and perfect weather. It’s all fake. To hide how horrible it is here.”
I cringe, but she’s not wrong.
Her cutting stare drops to my dress, the accusation in her face hard to ignore. “How do you stand being around them?”
“I don’t know. I guess you get used to it.”
“I wouldn’t.” She glares down at the linen tablecloth. “I would rather die than live with them—but not before taking a few of the pointy-eared assholes with me.”
“Jane!” Vi snaps, leveling her with a fiery look. “Language.”
Jane rolls her eyes where only I can see. “I can’t believe you left me with them, Summer. They’re the worst.”
I sigh. I’d forgotten how hormonal and annoying I was at fifteen too. “Don’t say that.” I squeeze her thin arm. “You don’t exactly make it easy on them. You’re lucky Vi hasn’t locked you away in the cellar like she did me.”
“She would if she could catch me.”
After promising Jane the food isn’t spelled or designed to enslave her, she turns her attention to a spring pie drizzled with honey and figs. The tension in her bony shoulders eases, but I make sure to watch her anytime she gets up for drinks or food.
The food offered to us might be perfectly safe, but I’m just beginning to grasp the complexity of Faerie law. She could steal a roll off an Evermore’s plate or thank someone the wrong way and owe them her firstborn.
The banquet drags on well past sunset. Because of where I’m seated, I can’t get a good view of the Unseelie royal tables. But I know Valerian is there, his father probably with him. Is he seated next to Inara?
A shock of jealous and rage fills me at the thought. Murder. I want to murder the ice bitch with my bare hands.
She would never ask him to love her. She would never require anything but his loyalty, which is what he offered me. She won’t risk his kingdom and his status.
I try to brush off my sudden pang of jealousy as shadows and Evermore are paraded to a podium by Magus to receive awards. There’s no way Mack’s name won’t be called, and after seeing how hard she studied this year, she deserves a standing ovation.
When it comes time to honor the valedictorian of the second year class, Nick and Sebastian lean forward, each dad grabbing one of her hands. For some reason, Mack looks mortified, but then again, so would I if I had to make a speech in front of hundreds.
“Reina Vanderhill,” Cronus announces. The Unseelie side of the courtyard erupts in applause. Mack frowns, avoiding her dads’ shocked gasps.
But unlike them, she doesn’t seem surprised. Only . . . embarrassed.
Sebastian goes immediately into lawyer mode. “There’s no way Mackenzie lost to a daughter of the Vanderhill’s. They bought her grades, I guarantee. Our girl deserves this award. I’ve already written it into her application letters to the big five firms. Wait until I file a motion with the school—”
Nick takes Sebastian’s hand. “Shh, honey. Don’t embarrass Mackenzie. We’ll discuss this later.”
Mack, for her part, seems to shrink, caught in the middle of them. I try to catch her eye for support but her eyes stay glued to her clasped hands.
Thankfully, that was the last award. As we stand to say our goodbyes to our families, Nick pulls me aside.
“Summer, you would tell me, wouldn’t you honey? If Mack wasn’t okay?”
Okay? “Why wouldn’t she be?”
But even as the words leave my mouth, I’m taking in her gaunt cheeks and sharp collarbones, the untouched food on her plate.
He sneaks a look her way. “Sebastian means well, but he puts so much pressure on her. And this year . . . well she won’t say as much, but I can tell it’s been a struggle. She won’t let us help her. The school contacted us about her grades—”
My head snaps back to him. “What about her grades?”
“She didn’t tell you?” His auburn eyebrows gather. “Then I shouldn’t have said anything.” He wipes at the corner of his eye. “Did we do the right thing, bargaining for her life and sending her here?”
